#NigeriaDecides2019 | PDP demands halts to result collation by INEC

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has demanded the immediate halt to the ongoing collation of results of the presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) until data from the smart card reader accreditation at the polling units are made available to all the parties in the election.

The party also wants results from Yobe, Borno and Zamfara states deleted from the presidential tabulation while new elections should be conducted in the states.

Addressing the press on Tuesday at the campaign headquarters of the party in Abuja, the Deputy Director General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Tanimu Turaki, said the demand for the stoppage of the collation of result was in line with the commitment to a transparent, free and fair election

ALSO READ: #NigeriaDecides2019 | Chidoka, PDP agent, raises concern over Card Readers in Northern states

The main opposition party said it predicated its demand on available evidence to the effect that data from the card readers were being reconfigured “to suit the manipulations, rigging and over-voting already carried out during the election in some states by the All Progressives Congress (APC).”

While noting that the PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus had communicated this position of the party to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, he asserted that the PDP has evidence from the smart card reader accreditation data that what was being announced by INEC had been seriously tampered with and manipulated.

The party also demanded the immediate and outright cancellation of Presidential election results in Yobe, Zamfara, Nasarawa and Borno states as submitted by INEC presiding officers and asked for the conduct of fresh elections in these states.

Turaki said that In Yobe, the total number of votes submitted as cast was more than the number of accredited voters whereas the number of accredited voters was 601, 056, the total votes cast was 775, 449.

He added: “This is a clear case of over-voting which, by the provisions of the Electoral Act, renders the election null and void. In such instance, the law provides for another election on a day to be fixed by INEC.

“In Zamfara state, no actual voting took place and there was no single result sheet in any polling unit in the entire state. There was an arrest in Shinkafi Local Government, where an APC member was caught thump-printing ballot papers inside his house.

“Results from the presiding officer from Zamfara were concocted and allocated according to the wishes of the leadership of the APC and INEC.”

The PDP, therefore, demanded the outright deletion of the results from Zamfara from INEC records and conduct of free, fair and credible Presidential election in Zamfara state.

The former ministers of special duties also observed that in Borno state, there was no election but a figure writing exercise and allocation of results according to the whims and caprices of the APC leaders.

“We also demand the outright deletion of the results from Borno from INEC records and conduct of free, fair and credible Presidential election in Borno State,” he said.

The party demanded the immediate restoration of over 157, 000 lawful and valid of what it said was its votes In Nasarawa “which were unlawfully and arbitrarily cancelled by INEC and the announcement of the actual results from the field.”

Similarly, the PDP demanded the immediate restoration of our over 79, 000 valid votes which it maintained were unlawfully cancelled by INEC in Kogi state and the announcement of the authentic results inclusive of the restored 79,000 votes

Also, in the FCT, the PDP demanded the restoration of 27,000 valid votes it said were unlawfully and arbitrarily cancelled by INEC and a declaration of the authentic result, inclusive of its restored 27,000 votes.

In Plateau, the PDP demanded the immediate restoration of our over 30,000 lawful and valid votes, which it also said were unlawfully cancelled particularly in Jos North and the declaration of the genuine results as delivered at the polling units inclusive of our 30,000 restored votes.

The PDP, therefore, called on Nigerians to disregard the results until INEC provides the data from the smart card reader accreditation at the polling units, conducts fresh election in Borno, Yobe and Zamfara states as well as restore our votes in Plateau, FCT, Kogi and Nasarawa states.

The PDP maintained that from the actual votes delivered at the polling units, “which we all have, Nigerians clearly and unequivocally gave their mandate to Atiku Abubakar.”